1. Dat het Woord van het Oude Testament verborgenheden van de hemel bevat, en dat zowel het geheel als elke bijzonderheid daarvan op de Heer betrekking heeft, op Zijn hemel, op de Kerk, op het geloof en de dingen van het geloof, kan geen sterveling uit de letter opmaken. Uit de letter of uit de letterlijke zin ziet niemand iets anders, dan dat het in het algemeen gaat over de uiterlijke dingen van de Joodse Kerk, terwijl er overal een innerlijke zin is, dat nergens in het uiterlijke aan het licht komt, behalve dan het zeer weinige dat de Heer onthuld heeft en aan de apostelen heeft ontvouwd; zo bijvoorbeeld, dat de offeranden de Heer betekenen, het land Kanaän en Jeruzalem en ook het Paradijs, de hemel betekenen, waarom dan ook van het hemelse Kanaän en Jeruzalem gesproken wordt.
Mattheüs 6:33
33
Maar zoekt eerst het Koninkrijk Gods en Zijn gerechtigheid, en al deze dingen zullen u toegeworpen worden.
Heaven and Hell #64
64. The reason so many varied elements act as one in an individual is that there is nothing whatever there that does not contribute something to the common good and do something useful. The inclusive body serves its parts and the parts serve the inclusive body because the inclusive body is made up of parts and the parts make up the inclusive body. So they provide for each other respectively, they focus on each other mutually, and they are united in the kind of form that gives every single component a relationship to the inclusive entity and its well-being. This is what enables them to act as a unit.
[2] It is the same with assemblies in the heavens. People there unite in this kind of form in pursuit of any worthwhile activity. As a result any individuals who do not serve some use for the larger body are cast out of heaven because they are misfits. To "serve some use" is to intend well to others for the sake of the common good, while "not to serve some use" is to intend well to others not for the sake of the common good but for the sake of oneself. People who act in this latter fashion are people who love themselves above all, while people who act in the former fashion are the ones who love the Lord above all. This is why people in heaven act in unison not from themselves but from the Lord. They in fact focus on him as the unique source of all, and on his kingdom as the commonwealth that is to be cared for. This is the meaning of the Lord's words, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything will be given you in addition" (Matthew 6:33). To "seek his righteousness" is to seek his good. 1
[3] There are people who in this world love the good of their country more than their own and the good of their neighbor as their own. They are the ones who love and seek the kingdom of the Lord in the other life, since there the kingdom of the Lord takes the place of one's country. Further, people who love to do good to others not for self-centered reasons but for the sake of the good itself are people who love their neighbor, since in the other life the good is one's neighbor. 2 All individuals who are of this quality are in the universal human - that is, in heaven.
Notes de bas de page:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] In the Word, "righteousness" refers to the good and "judgment" to the true, so "to do justice and judgment" is to do what is good and true: 2235, 9857.
2. [Swedenborg's footnote] In the highest sense, the Lord is our neighbor, and so loving the Lord is loving what comes from him, since he is present in everything that comes from him, and therefore what is good and true is also our neighbor: 2425, 3419, 6706, 6711, 6819, 6823, 8123. Therefore, everything good that comes from the Lord is our neighbor, and intending and doing that good is loving our neighbor: 5028, 10336.
